The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected that federal deficits under President Obama’s budget plan would total $6.6 trillion in the coming decade, a trillion dollars less than under current law.
Under the President’s policies, CBO said, deficits this year and next would be about $500 billion and then generally increase to as high as $800 billion by 2024.
These deficits would represent about 3 percent of GDP throughout the decade. Nor would there be much change in the debt relative to GDP; in other words, for another decade not much would be done to put the debt on a downward path.
In addition, interest costs would continue to rise steeply, reaching $838 billion by 2024 — not much below CBO’s current-law projection of $876 billion.
Projected deficits under Obama’s plan would exceed those under current law through 2016. For the rest of the 10-year period, they would be smaller than under current law.
CBO said Obama’s proposed policy changes would increase revenues by about 3 percent over the coming decade relative to current law. They would boost spending by about 1 percent.
CBO said its estimates of budget deficits under the President’s plan were lower than the administration’s own estimates for this year and next, but higher between 2016 and 2024.
External links:
CBO Analysis of the President’s 2015 Budget
CBO Infographics on 2013 Budget
